Case of Kaliningrad schoolgirl beating dropped, suspects set free

April 08, 2012, 19:20 UTC+3The police refused to open a criminal case at first because the suspected assailants were immune from prosecution due to their young age

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MOSCOW, April 8 (Itar-Tass) —— The case of a 14-year-old girl’s beating in the Kaliningrad region has been dropped and the two suspects have been set free by the decision of the Gusevsky district prosecutor, the Russian Investigation Committee said on Sunday.

“The Russian Investigation Committee will challenge this decision at higher instances, up to the Prosecutor General,” the Committee said. “Cruel crimes committed against children must not go unpunished.”

The parents of Lena Sukhorukova came to the Gusevsky district police department on March 23 to report that their daughter was beaten by two 14-year-old schoolgirls, whose friends shot the beating on their mobile phones. The recording was posted online.

The police refused to open a criminal case at first because the suspected assailants were immune from prosecution due to their young age. The Kaliningrad regional department of the Russian Investigation Committee asked the regional prosecutor’s office to cancel that decision. A criminal case was opened on Saturday on a more serious charge – an attempted murder. This crime is punishable already since the age of 14.